Hong Sang-soo's (Turning Gate, MIFF 2003) latest film arrives direct from its slot in Official Competition at Cannes. Taking its title from a work by French poet Louis Aragon, Woman is the Future of Man is an elegiac snapshot at the friendship of three young people'à la Jules et Jim'forging a path in contemporary urban Seoul.

It's winter and the first snow has fallen in the South Korean capital. Mun-ho, a young plastic-arts university lecturer, meets up with his old friend Hun-joon, a penniless filmmaker recently returned from the USA. Over a meal at a Chinese restaurant they saunter down a memory trail, chatting about old times. When the conversation turns to Seon-hwa, a painter they both knew when they were students, the two men decide to track her down. Hearing that she is running a bar, they set off in search of her'

'The fifth film by Hong Sang-soo seems his most playful, and very close at times to the classic Tales of French auteur Eric Rhomer' it's an elegant jeu, played and constructed with an almost Gallic lightness heightened by Jeong Yong-jin's burts of music, all bouncy piano and pizzicato.' -Variety

Please note: contains scenes that may offend some viewers

D/S Hong Sang-soo P Hanna Lee WS MK2 L Korean w/English subtitles TD 35mm/Col/2004/87mins

Hong Sang-soo was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1960. Films include: The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (MIFF 1997), Virgin Stripped Bare of Her Bachelors (MIFF 2001).